But it’s worth noting that, as yet, there hasn’t been enough research into the ketogenic diet to support its use in some medical conditions – so people using the diet to treat diabetes or polycystic ovarian syndrome, should consult their doctor before trying it, as it can affect blood sugar levels. People with pancreatic or liver problems, or problems with fat metabolism should also avoid the ketogenic diet. This is because the diet is so high in fat that it puts added pressure on both organs, which are essential for fat metabolism .
So happy I found your site, out of all the keto sites I’ve clicked on yours is the best!! You actually give us a plan to get started and I love your humor :) I’ve tried living keto before but it was the diet along with a lot of supplements and nasty shakes…it wasn’t for me! I don’t like drinking my snacks and meals just to get into ketosis! Looking forward to trying this again and trying your recipes!
As always, I’m late to the party. Thank you so much for this fantastic resource! I did this 6 years ago, lost 60 lbs. and maintained it for five years. But over the past year or so, my weight has gone up and down the same 18 lbs. To add insult to injury, I’m now borderline pre-diabetic (higher A1C than is healthy), my anxiety attacks have returned and so I’m on medication for that. It’s time to go back to what I know makes me feel better and get off the sugar and garbage once and for all.
Rami co-founded Tasteaholics with Vicky at the start of 2015 to master the art of creating extremely delicious food while researching the truth behind nutrition, dieting and overall health. You can usually find him marketing, coding or coming up with the next crazy idea because he can’t sit still for too long. His favorite book is The 4-Hour Workweek and artist is Infected Mushroom.
The ketogenic diet is calculated by a dietitian for each child. Age, weight, activity levels, culture and food preferences all affect the meal plan. First, the energy requirements are set at 80–90% of the recommended daily amounts (RDA) for the child's age (the high-fat diet requires less energy to process than a typical high-carbohydrate diet). Highly active children or those with muscle spasticity require more calories than this; immobile children require less. The ketogenic ratio of the diet compares the weight of fat to the combined weight of carbohydrate and protein. This is typically 4:1, but children who are younger than 18 months, older than 12 years, or who are obese may be started on a 3:1 ratio. Fat is energy-rich, with 9 kcal/g (38 kJ/g) compared to 4 kcal/g (17 kJ/g) for carbohydrate or protein, so portions on the ketogenic diet are smaller than normal. The quantity of fat in the diet can be calculated from the overall energy requirements and the chosen ketogenic ratio. Next, the protein levels are set to allow for growth and body maintenance, and are around 1 g protein for each kg of body weight. Lastly, the amount of carbohydrate is set according to what allowance is left while maintaining the chosen ratio. Any carbohydrate in medications or supplements must be subtracted from this allowance. The total daily amount of fat, protein and carbohydrate is then evenly divided across the meals.[36]
Achieving ketosis is a pretty straightforward, but it can seem complicated and confusing with all of the information out there.4If you want to learn more about ketosis and the scientific process around it, you can visit a very in-depth discussion about on Dr. Peter Attia’s website. Here’s the bottom line on what you need to do, ordered in levels of importance:

One area where food tracking can be especially helpful, though, is ensuring that you're hitting the right ratios of macronutrients—protein, carbs, and fat. "The most researched version of the ketogenic diet derives 70 percent of calories from healthy fats, 20 percent from protein, and only 10 percent from carbs," explains Charles Passler, D.C., nutritionist, and founder of Pure Change. "In the ideal world, each keto meal and snack should have that same (70/20/10) ratio of macronutrients, but studies have shown that you'll still achieve great results even if each meal varies slightly from that ratio, just as long as you don't exceed 50 grams per day of carbs, or eat those carbs in one sitting," says Passler. In order to achieve these ratios without a preset meal plan from a dietitian or doctor, some food tracking is probably going to be necessary. But once you get the hang of things, you may not need it anymore.

Well, I managed to get to the store and get a few things to fire up this kickstart. I made the pudding today and it was a bit tangy so I decided to turn it into the Mousse instead. It was awesome and even though this is officially the 2nd day, I was ready for something chocolaty. I happened to have Hershey’s cocoa powder on hand, but I was wondering what “premium” powder you normally use? I have more questions building up, but I have not read the above questions yet. You may have answered them. This was more to tell you how much I liked the Mousse. I tried tofu mousse once and it was an epic fail!

Those issues can be part of what's known as the “keto flu,” Warren says. Other side effects of the keto diet, all of which are tied to carb withdrawal, can include lightheadedness, nausea, mental fog, cramps, and headaches, in addition to tiredness. Luckily, the keto flu doesn't usually last more than a week—which is coincidentally about when people start to see the number on the scale go down, says Warren.
Swanson, a professor of neurology who has researched the impacts of ketogenic diets on inflammation in the brain, got curious about the ketogenic diet when trying to treat the inflammation that persists for days after a person suffers a stroke. When he tried inducing a ketogenic state in mice with stroke injuries, he said, “I was overwhelmed by the effect.” Blocking glucose metabolism worked to suppress inflammatory genes, which in turn helped stroke healing.

This reminds me …… just after WWll, when there wasn’t a lot of meat available let alone any *special* foods to enjoy, my MoM used to cook up strips of bacon, then make creamed Mushrooms and supper would be bacon and creamed mushrooms on toast ….. ummmm it was so good! Your recipe not only brought back a memory but has also spurned me to make myself some bacon with creamed mushrooms on toast for my dinner tomorrow night 🤗

Positive science on ketosis coupled with personal successes passed by word-of-mouth have driven more people to explore the ketogenic diet, says Volek. More recently, the keto diet hints at having a promising therapeutic role in cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Research is still early in many areas, but Volek suspects there will more definitive answers on the wider scope of the diet’s benefits within the next decade.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you for taking the guesswork out of putting a plan together. Thank you for putting in the time, your dedication and commitment helping people you don’t even know. I get overwhelmed putting a plan together. What I think is healthy is not! I am starting the 3 day kickstart this week. I am putting my shopping list together. While doing so, I find myself asking- are these ingredients enough for 1 person or more? Should I increase the quantity of items to feed the family? I have a family of 5 and we all need to eat healthier. More specifically, my husband and I will be doing Keto. The kids (14, 18 & 20’year olds) will most likely do the dinners and snacks. Thank you for your help with this. Sorry in advance if you already answered these questions. I went through other comments and didn’t notice if it had been addressed. Thanks again!
Protein: Keep in mind that keto is high-fat, and not high-protein, so you don’t need to eat very much meat. Too much protein turns into glucose in the body, making it harder to stay in ketosis. Stick to fatty cuts of grass-fed, pasture-raised, or wild meat, and wild-caught fish. Red meats, offal/organ meats, pork, eggs (preferably pastured), fish, shellfish, and whey protein concentrate.
2) Since this is an older blog… I will tell you that Coconut Oil is “the miracle ingredient”! It goes RIGHT to your liver and is metabolized as ketones… it is what’s called an MCT oil (medium chain triglyceride, kinda of a “good” saturated fat) I have been eating 2 – 3 tbls a day since I started back with a vengeance and will tell you not only has it helped me to be more consistent in my weight loss, but it has even improved my complexion… I am 57, and was starting to get sun spots on my cheeks… but they are actually fading after only a month.. I’ve lost 15 lbs in this first month and feel 35 again…
The Metabolic Cooking is a fantastic, well organised meal plan that comes with more than 250 quick & easy fat torching recipes, structured guidelines, grocery lists, food logs and additional tips and tricks to drop off that stubborn fat and get into the best shape of your life. If you want better tasting recipes for your diet, made with spices and ingredients that will boost your metabolism and torch the fat, I really recommend grabbing a copy of “The Metabolic Cooking” created by my Canadian friends Dave Ruel and Karine Losier! Metabolic Cooking recipes have all been designed with high Metabolic Thermo Charge ingredients to boost your metabolism and burn more calories everyday.
Other forms of ketogenic diets include cyclic ketogenic diets, also known as carb cycling, and targeted ketogenic diets, which allow for adjustments to carbohydrate intake around exercise. These modifications are typically implemented by athletes looking to use the ketogenic diet to enhance performance and endurance and not by individuals specifically focused on weight loss.
Hi Melissa! I’m a female, 6 feet, 2 inches tall and I need to lose about 45 to 50 pounds…SO glad I found your website…it’s nothing short of amazing! I’m on day one of the Keto Kickstart and my question is, do the serving sizes apply to everyone’s size, BMI, height, etc.? I am a bit nervous of taking in too few calories. I plugged in my stats for the Keto calculator and I wonder if I can have larger portions of some of your recipes. Thank you for the beautiful recipes and menu plans!!!

I have one more question. You stress salt in this diet but I was wondering why you don’t recommend salted nuts. Is there a reason? I will just replace the almonds with string cheese if that is the case but I just can’t handle raw unsalted nuts. To me they taste like dirt! But I love salted ones so I was curious if we need the salt can I eat my salted almonds or pistachios? Just trying to figure out where the salt can be utilized. Thanks for all you help! Day 3 and going strong!

This reminds me …… just after WWll, when there wasn’t a lot of meat available let alone any *special* foods to enjoy, my MoM used to cook up strips of bacon, then make creamed Mushrooms and supper would be bacon and creamed mushrooms on toast ….. ummmm it was so good! Your recipe not only brought back a memory but has also spurned me to make myself some bacon with creamed mushrooms on toast for my dinner tomorrow night 🤗
Thank you Mellissa. I guess I need to set up a Reddit account. Several people have directed me there for Keto forums for one reason or another. I try not to let it get me down but I have been fluctuating really badly since I started this WOE and I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the hormones not being balanced. I came off of a prepackaged, doctor recommended food plan that really knocked me outta whack and helped me discover that I do indeed have an under-active thyroid, which I have known most of my life because I have always felt hormonally off balance and could never lose weight. It is also genetic in my family but doctors never listened to me and at most would run the basic blood test to appease me which always came back normal…which is common…and when they did, they would lecture me about losing weight and hand me a prescription for diet pills or give me info on some fad diet. Now I am trying to fix it with Keto and natural remedies. I feel better than I ever have in my life on the energy front and that was almost an instant feeling after switching to Keto. I hope I balance out soon because I am 35-40 lbs down since mid-May (depending on my fluctuation for the week) and have about 100+ to go. The frustrating part is I have now lost the same 3-5 lbs repeatedly over the past 5-6 weeks and all I can think is that could have been 20-30 lbs closer to my goal weight! I even considered going back on that nasty diet even though I felt terrible because I did lose consistently. I have confirmed my macros with some others who are more experienced and they are just as boggled as I am about the bad fluctuation.
Positive science on ketosis coupled with personal successes passed by word-of-mouth have driven more people to explore the ketogenic diet, says Volek. More recently, the keto diet hints at having a promising therapeutic role in cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Research is still early in many areas, but Volek suspects there will more definitive answers on the wider scope of the diet’s benefits within the next decade.
He is convinced that carbohydrate-heavy, low-fat diets are a major reason we're seeing high rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and cancer. That's because a diet high in sugar can quickly raise insulin levels in the body. Over time, those spikes can lead to insulin resistance and eventually to long-term health issues like high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, inflammation, and obesity.
The ketogenic diet is a mainstream dietary therapy that was developed to reproduce the success and remove the limitations of the non-mainstream use of fasting to treat epilepsy.[Note 2] Although popular in the 1920s and 30s, it was largely abandoned in favour of new anticonvulsant drugs.[1] Most individuals with epilepsy can successfully control their seizures with medication. However, 20–30% fail to achieve such control despite trying a number of different drugs.[9] For this group, and for children in particular, the diet has once again found a role in epilepsy management.[1][10]
H. Guldbrand, B. Dizdar, B. Bunjaku, T. Lindström, M. Bachrach-Lindström, M. Fredrikson, C. J. Östgren, F. H. Nystrom, “In Type 2 Diabetes, Randomisation to Advice to Follow a Low-carbohydrate Diet Transiently Improves Glycaemic Control Compared with Advice to Follow a Low-fat Diet Producing a Similar Weight Loss,” Diabetologia (2012) 55: 2118. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-012-2567-4.
The ketone bodies are possibly anticonvulsant; in animal models, acetoacetate and acetone protect against seizures. The ketogenic diet results in adaptive changes to brain energy metabolism that increase the energy reserves; ketone bodies are a more efficient fuel than glucose, and the number of mitochondria is increased. This may help the neurons to remain stable in the face of increased energy demand during a seizure, and may confer a neuroprotective effect.[55]
What a great find! Over the years I have been on Atkins, FatBellyDiet, and Livin’LaVida menu (all great resources).. and a random exerciser with success. I’m a little late for my new year’s resolution, but summer is right around the corner. In motivation to jump back into what I know works so well for me, I’ve found IBIH! I put my scale away a long time ago, as it only causes me angst (I’ve always been high in the BMI scale, even at my lowest weight, highest fitness level). So, I use a tape measure, love to see the inches melt off in two weeks. Which in itself, motivates me back into fitness activities.

Your three day kick start seems to me to be almost zero carbs? Am I wrong? I have been doing 20g net carb where you can still get in quite a few veggies for 20g net carbs. Am I missing something? In the day one for instance the only veggies are celery (1g or carb) and then rommaine leaves? I suppose you are getting 2 g in cheese string, a bit in the eggs, etc? I have been tracking and getting to 20g net with veggies, fats and meats (measuring every single thing). So As long as you are at 20g no matter how you get there it should be ok?

A typical day on a keto diet might include breakfast of fried eggs or a frittata with eggs, mushrooms, cheese and butter; lunch of chicken thighs with cabbage and olive oil; and dinner of bacon burgers with green beans and butter. The emphasis on proteins and fats also is intended to provide a feeling of fullness, which can make the eating plan easier to stick to.

When you eat foods high in carbohydrates and fat, your body naturally produces glucose. Carbohydrates are the easiest thing for the body to process, and therefore it will use them first – resulting in the excess fats to be stored immediately. In turn, this causes weight gain and health problems that are associated with high fat, high carbohydrate diets (NOT keto).

There are three instances where there’s research to back up a ketogenic diet, including to help control type 2 diabetes, as part of epilepsy treatment, or for weight loss, says Mattinson. “In terms of diabetes, there is some promising research showing that the ketogenic diet may improve glycemic control. It may cause a reduction in A1C — a key test for diabetes that measures a person’s average blood sugar control over two to three months — something that may help you reduce medication use,” she says.